XMM-Newton-NEWS

XMM-Newton-NEWS #108, 17-May-2010

XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre at
ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre,
P.O. Box - Apdo. 78, 28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain

SOC Home Page:	https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/
Helpdesk web interface:	https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk
Helpdesk email address:	xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int
News Mailing List:	https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/newsletter

Reminder to SAS users to upgrade to SAS 10.0

As announced in the XMM-Newton Newsletter #107, SAS 10.0 was released on the 29^th of April, 2010. On the 7^th of May, 2010, the RGS calibration files RGS[1][2]_EFFAREACORR_0006.CCF have been released. Those calibration files are needed for a proper correction of the RGS contamination effect and are incompatible with SAS versions previous to SAS 10.0. Therefore we recommend you to upgrade SAS to SAS 10.0 as soon as possible.

More information is available at the SAS watchouts at:

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/sas/current/watchout/9.0.0/updatingSAS.shtml.

http://xmm.esac.esa.int/sas/current/watchout/10.0.0/updatingCCFs.shtml

Patch to SAS version 10.0

A small patch to the newly released SAS 10.0.0 version has been released on the 17^th of May, 2010. The patch includes the metatask psechain, which was not released with SAS 10.0 by mistake, and an upgraded version of epiclccorr, solving a 'segmentation fault' problem found for this task in some Linux versions. Users who download SAS 10.0 after the 17^th of May will not need to install the patch separately, since it is already included in the corrected SAS version released on that date.

10^th XMM-Newton SAS Workshop: deadline for registration

As announced in XMM-Newsletter issue #104, the 10^th SAS Workshop will be held at the European Space Astronomy Centre of ESA in Villanueva de la Cañada (near Madrid, Spain) between the 21^st and the 25^th of June 2010.

SAS Workshops aim at providing XMM-Newton users with a basic introduction to the procedures and techniques to successfully reduce and analyse XMM-Newton data.

A few places are still available to attend this workshop. Therefore, the deadline for registration has been extended until these places are filled. Interested persons can find more information about the workshop and registration process at the following page:

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/sas-workshop-2010

No fee is required to attend the SAS Workshop.

Let us know about XMM-Newton related Ph.D.

The XMM-Newton team is collecting information about the completion of doctorates and Ph.D. theses based on (or making use of) XMM-Newton observations since the launch of the mission.

This information is one of the measures of the scientific impact of XMM-Newton and represents an important support for the mission. Ideally, it is our intention to collect the complete list of Ph.D. works based on XMM-Newton data and this is why we need your help.

We would appreciate if you - being a candidate or supervisor of a doctorate - could let us know the following details:

Candidate's name
Supervisor's name
Institution
Thesis Title
Statement that the thesis is either based on, or making use of, XMM-Newton observations

Please contact us through the helpdesk at:

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk

sending an e-mail with Subject: "Ph.D. thesis work". The message can be flagged as private. In any case, all provided information will be handled confidentially.

Call for XMM-Newton results with potential for ESA press releases

The XMM-Newton team is looking forward to hearing from you about exciting new results obtained with XMM-Newton observations.

The XMM-Newton team does not have dedicated resources to systematically monitor astro-ph and the published literature for interesting new material. However, ESA does have a team of public affairs officers who will help arranging appropriate publicity and Press Releases. Please remember that they can only start the work once they know that a result is available and that they need some time to accommodate the story, since press releases are organised for several projects.

Your exciting results with XMM-Newton do represent an important support for the mission. Remember that the public strongly supports astronomy because they enjoy seeing the fruit of our work!

Please contact us through the helpdesk at:

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/xmm-newton/xmm-newton-helpdesk

Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC